Basketball

The NBA Eastern Conference teams are going at it. The remaining games are crucial for some teams as far as playoffs positioning is concerned. The teams from the 5th seed, down to the 10th spot won a game tonight.

The battle for the 8th and final spot is very close between the Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards who are all having winning streaks as of the moment. The 8th seeder Pistons defeated the Bucks 92-91. Looking in from the ninth spot, the Chicago Bulls, defeated the Sacramento Kings , 109-102. The Washington Wizards beat the Atlanta Hawks, 117-102.

The 2015-2016 NBA season is almost near the half-way mark, All-Star voting will soon be a trend. But for this post, I will be mentioning some players that I think should be considered for the Most Improved Player award:

Will Barton – Since his transfer to Denver Nuggets, he has been pretty much on fire. He’s been lighting up the scoring sheet by posting 20+ point games. He even put up a couple of 30+ point performances. But sadly, he’s had a couple of low scoring games but I think he is just in a slump. He could also be a candidate for Sixth Man of the Year.

CJ McCollum – This kid has been on fire since Day 1 of the 2015-2016 season. He currently averages 21.0 points per game and 4.4 assists per game. A major improvement from a 6.8ppg/1.0apg 2014-2015 season. His minutes have also more than doubled this season compared last season. Alongside Blazers All-Star Damian Lillard, they can be one hell of a deadly backcourt duo.

Andre Drummond – This guy is a beast. That is all I can say. He’s the leagues top rebounder with 15.7 rebounds per game. He is also putting up 17.9 points per game. He is on his way (or probably he is now) to becoming the franchise player of the Detroit Pistons.

Honorable mentions: Allen Crabbe of the Portland Trailblazers, Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards and Reggie Jackson of the Detroit Pistons.

Since his return to the Chicago Bulls line-up after a barrage of injuries that sidelined him for a long time, people are wondering whether Derrick Rose, NBA’s youngest ever MVP, can still get back to his old All-Star form. My thoughts? A big yes. Well I was partially being logical and partially being hopeful about it since I am a fan of his. Why big yes? It is because I think Rose did all the right things. He took his time. He was very serious and careful about his recovery. He took all the necessary steps in order to fully regain his health. Now that the Bulls has a new coach in Fred Holberg, who’s very much different from Thibodeau, the future seems to be a bit brighter for Rose.

He may not win the MVP award again but I do think he can still put up a string of All-Star caliber seasons. Rose is a very talented basketball player. He’s very athletic and he has a high basketball IQ. He also has the killer instinct and he’s a clutch player. He may need to let go of some explosive moves to prolong his longevity but he may also add some veteran tricks to his arsenal. He should learn from the great NBA players of the past who are not that athletic but are very successful because they are smart enough to hang with the more explosive and stronger players. I could give a couple of names. Steve Nash and John Stockton. You can also add Tony Parker to the list. Dwayne Wade has also tweaked his game a bit. He is a lot less explosive but he has improved his finesse and shooting ability. Many have counted out Wade but look at his numbers now, 20+ points per game in his first few games this season. Rose should do the same thing.

There is this one very annoying guy who frequently makes senseless comments in the Yahoo! Sports page during Rockets games. He’s basically a hater of Jeremy Lin. So what he does is he sucks the balls of either Patrick Beverley or Isaiah Canaan. He’s pretty annoying. That’s all I can say. I am hoping that the Yahoo! Sports page will get rid of annoying commenters. But that’s just impossible. So I’ll just have to press those “thumbs down” icons more often.